A Day In The Life Of A Storage King Manager – Richard Locke

As a UK-operated self storage company, we have a huge variety of locations spread across the country.

We pride ourselves on offering a completely flexible service, with a wide choice of storage units that suit every need, from students and businesses to people moving home, decluttering or renovating. We also pride ourselves on our great customer service, which really comes down to the teams in each of our stores.

Our "A Day In The Life" series tells the story of the men and women who work in various roles at Storage King, working with and managing the teams who make storage magic happen daily. This week, Storage King Derby manager Richard Locke shares his average daily schedule with us.

I get an early start to my day and with an 18-month-old daughter and her teenage sister, it sometimes feels like I’ve done half a day’s work before I’ve even left the house.

When I arrive at our Derby store I survey the store. I do a quick walk round the external building for Health and Safety checks, switch the alarm off and soak in the silence for a few seconds before the activity of the day starts.  I pop the kettle on and while it boils, my first job is the internal checks, to ensure everything is ready for the day ahead.

Back to the office armed with fresh coffee, I’m relaxed in the knowledge my store is poised for action. New enquiries are my first priority - I want to be the one who speaks to the customer first, before the competition. I want it to be my call and my customer service that sticks in their mind for the day.

One of the things I love most about my job is that every day is different. Although the tasks performed are similar, each person that calls or walks through the door brings a different situation, challenge and story. I love that I help people by providing a solution to their storage problems. My team and I pride ourselves on offering excellent customer service. The kettle is always on at our Derby store and I’ve heard so many stories from customers over a brew that I could write a book.

Our welcoming attitude is what makes us different from other storage companies. After the calls are done, my colleagues start to arrive and we work through that day’s additional jobs. These mainly consist of lock checks to see if anyone has vacated overnight, payments, processing invoices and ensuring our shop is always presentable and fully stocked. We like to keep on top of marketing and see if we can get the Storage King name out there. In the summer months we help out Derby’s local students by offering them free collection of their goods to make our service offering even more attractive.

The Derby store is one of the largest in the Storage King group, with a huge 55,885sqft of space. It is extremely busy with lots of customers on site. First impressions last, so I like to ensure our premises are as clean as possible and it’s great when a customer comments on this. I love nothing more than when people recommend us.

Fun fact: We were the first in the Storage King group to offer a confidential shredding service. This could be anything from basic paperwork from a chip shop to a solicitor’s office, or little old me getting rid of personal correspondence. This provides us with lots of additional work as we offer a collection service, and it is great to get out and about and meet face to face with customers.

We are a great team here at Derby. I have worked with my assistant manager for over 10 years and we have a great team spirit. Anyone that knows me knows I love to chat and this role is perfect for me.  In 2016 I won the FEDESSA European Manager of the Year award and I believe my pure love of the job is what helped me to achieve this.  I don’t meet many people who can genuinely say they enjoy their job, so I feel extremely fortunate.

If I finish off my day knowing I have helped someone or made their life easier, then I can go home with a smile on my face.

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